Today many atheists claim that we do not need God or religion to be good. When we point out that the greatest mass murderers in history were atheists, they respond by saying that there is nothing inherent in atheism that would cause someone to murder, which is correct. There are no atheistic teachings that proclaim stealing and rape is good and should be pursued. Of course, that is a straw man because that is not our claim.

The problem with atheism is that it inherently rejects a transcendent moral law. Apes do not follow a moral law and moral laws do not spring into existence by chance. Laws require a mind, and if you reject God, then there is no source of a universal transcendent moral law. Thus atheism eliminates the possibility of a moral law that comes with most religions, and therefore the atheist is free to make up his own morality. While many, particularly those in the West who have been exposed to 1,500 years of Christian legal philosophy, will choose good behavior, many will not.

Atheistic societies may come up with good laws. But they may also come up with bad laws, like those in China, that only allow for one child, and the alternative is forced abortions. In the only purely atheistic societies that we know of, the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba, and others, it was a crime to escape the country often punishable by death, and there is nothing outside the desires of the Communist Party to contest those laws. Some would claim that France and other European countries are atheistic, which may or may not be true, but all had their foundations in the Christian legal system and all still permit religious freedom, unlike the Communist countries.

Many Christians are often called hypocrites when they get involved in bad behavior, and often it is merited. But why is it that we don't call atheists hypocrites when they commit adultery or do drugs, like so many Hollywood stars. The answer of course is because atheist don't live by any kind of moral code. When an atheist steals, there is no conflict with his worldview. And while there is nothing inherent in atheism that says, you should steal, there's nothing inherent in it that says, thou shall not steal.

The question, Can we be good without God?, really has two parts:

Can one be good without the belief in God?

Can one be good without the existence of God?

The answer to the first part is yes, we can be good without belief in God. Even reason can bring us to a place where a society decides that murder is wrong. But reason is incapable of bringing us good morals because we can reason that it is best to kill, say, handicap people because they are a drag on society, as Hitler and others have. As we've said, atheists here in the West can be, and many are good people. Of course, they have been exposed to Christian legal philosophy for centuries. Now, we cannot be good without the existence of God, because we would no longer have intrinsic value. That is to say, if atheism is true and we are all just glorified monkeys, a human life would not have any more value than a cow’s life (see Evil, Suffering and a Loving God). The reason we have morality at all is because we place high value on human life and therefore it is wrong to lie to another human, it is wrong to assault another human, it is wrong to slander another human. It is not wrong to slander a cat, or to assault a chicken.

The only reason we have morality at all is because we are made in the image of God - because God loves us as a mother loves and cherishes her child (but a million times more). And therefore in the same way, God has placed immeasurable value on every person ever born.

Is Morality Universal or is it Cultural?Because atheism has no foundation for morality, that is, in a purely material world, no transcendent moral law can exist, they will claim that morality is just something cultures invent to enhance our survival. But the fact is much of morality does not enhance our survival. If we allowed rape, then we would have more children and a better chance at survival.

But evil acts go well beyond social norms or laws. When someone is raped, are we outraged because the rapist broke the law or because it is morally repugnant. Atheists don't get angry at school shootings because someone broke the law in the same way as someone who broke the speeding laws. They are outraged because killing children is morally wrong.

Are Christianity’s morals universal? Yes, in every society we’ve studied, lying, stealing, murder, etc. is wrong. Then how do we explain human sacrifice, Adolf Hitler and abortion? In every case, evil is explained away by misinformation. The Aztecs made human sacrifices to the sun god because they believed if they didn't, the sun would not rise. Hitler believed the Jews were inferior. We kill unborn babies in America because we don’t believe it is a human life. Even among these cultures, people believed murder is wrong, but the false information erases the stigma of murder.

What is the History of Christianity and Morality?Today many academics and secularists limit the contribution of Christianity to the Crusades and Inquisitions. But the truth is Christianity has a long history of being the most charitable ideology in human history? Some examples include:

Jesus was the first to identify the poor as a distinct social class.

Once in power, the Christian’s first political move was to abolish the gladiator games.

Throughout the Middle Ages, monasteries educated the poor and cared for the sick.

It was Christians like John Locke and William Penn who brought us the concept of equality and human rights.

The modern concept of hospitals emerged in the churches and monasteries of Europe.

The greatest charities in history were founded by Christians including the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Sisters of Mercy, Compassion, etc.

No other ideology or religion has this track record.

Can Atheism Bring us Good Morality?As we've noted, of course an atheist can be a good moral person. The biggest problem they face when making the claim that they can bring us good morals is that within atheism, there is no incentive to be good, as there is no universal moral law. It's no coincidence that all the major advents in human rights were driven by Christians (see Human Rights), not atheists. And it's also no coincidence that the most notorious mass murderers were atheists:

Stalin

Lenin

Pol Pot

Mao Zedong

French Revolution

Napoleon

With Christianity, we have a clear moral law, a day of judgement, and if that is not enough, God is always watching. Ask ten atheists what they think the moral law should be to govern society and you get ten different answer.

Yes we can be good without belief in God, but the idea that we can be good if, in fact, we were truly just intelligent monkeys is nonsense of the worse kind.